Saddletree.



No. 781,695. A PATENTED FEB. 7, 1905. G. J. THEOBALD.

SADDLETREE.

APPLIUATION FILED JULY 25,1904.

NITED STATES .Patented February '7, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE J. THEOBALD, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALF TOVILLIAM L. ELLIOTT, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

SADDLETREE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0. 781,695, dated February7, 1905.

Application filed July 25, 1904. Serial No. 217,924.

To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, GEORGE J. TIIEOBALD, a citizen of the United States,residing at Boston, county of Suffolk, State of Massachusetts, haveinvented an Improvement in Saddletrees, of which the followingdescription, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is aspecilication, like numerals on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention has for its object to provide a novel saddletree forharnesses in which the back-band passing through said saddletree willhave a flat bearing on the skirt and the bottom of the passage-way inwhich said back-band is received,whereby all bends in the band areavoided.

The novel lfeatures of my invention will be more fully hereinafterdescribed and then pointed out in the claims.

Figure 1 of the drawings is a central section of a saddletree embodyingmy invention, the back-band, skirt, and jockey being omitted fromone-half said figure. Fig. 2 is a top View of one arm of the saddletreewith the skirt and jockey partly broken out to better show theconstruction. Fig. 3 is a central vertical section of one end of thesaddletree, showing a modified form of the invention. Fig. l is a planview of Fig. 3.

The saddletree is formed with the two side arms 3 and 1, which arecurved to the proper shape and are connected together at their centralportions` and at their ends by sunken bridges 5 and 6, this constructionbeing extremely common in saddletrees. Said arms form between them apassage through which extends the usual back-band 9, to which thethill-straps are connected, said back-band resting on the sunken bridges5 and 6 and being free to slide through the passage while the harness isin use. Projecting' from each bridge 6 at the lower end of thesaddletree and offset therefrom is a seat 7 for supporting andstiffening the skirt 8, said seat being offset from the bridge adistance substantially equal to the thickness of said skirt. The resultof this construction is that the top of the skirt occupies the sameplane as the bridge 6, and the back-band 9 has, therefore, a flatbearing on the skirt and bridge and extends ina straight line from thetop of the saddletree down to and beyond the skirt. This constructionpermits the back-band to slide freely in the saddletree without beingbent at all as it passes over the skirt, and thus obviates allunnecesthe back-band ha's to bend more or less in 65 order to pass overthe skirt. The seat 7 serves also to stifl'en the skirt and takes theplace of ordinary stitl'ening member, which is usually inserted beneaththe skirt to prevent it from cracking or breaking at the edge of thebridge.

10 designates the usual jockey which lies on top of the arm of thesaddletree and covers the back-band, said jockey at its edges beingsewed to the arms of the skirt, as at 11.

12 designates a jockey-tip, which is secured 75 to the arms 3 and 4c andlies over the backband 9, said jockey-tip being preferably made ot'brass or some similar material, thus constituting a part of thetrimmings of the harness.

Said jockey-tip has the two arms 13, which SO overlie and are secured tothe arms 3 and a, said latter arms being cutaway to receive the arms 13,as best seen in Fig. 2, and the crosspiece 11, which connects said armsand lies over the back-band 9, thus forming a guide S5 for the latter.The thickness of the crosspiece 14 is preferably substantially the sameas that of the jockey, as seen at the left, Fig. 1. In lieu of the formot' jockey-tip shown in Figs. 1 and 2 I may use that shown in Figs. 90

3 and 4, in which the jockey-tip is arranged to be secured to the bridge6 instead of to the arms 3 and This form of jockey-tip comprises thebase-plate 16, -the side members 17, provided with theoutwardly-extending flanges 1S and connected by the crosspiecc 19, saidparts being shaped to form an opening 20, through which the back-bandextends.

lVith 60 Where this form of jockey-tip is used, the side pieces 3 and 4are cut away on their inner edges, as shown at 21, sufficiently tovreceive the side pieces 17 of the jockey-tip, so that the inner sidesthereofv will stand iush with the sides 23 of the arms 3 and 4. Withthis construction there are no shoulders present which the edges of theback-band 9 can rub against, as there usually is where the form ofjockey-tip shown in Figs. 3 and 4 is used.

In making my invention I have endeavored to remove all possibleshoulders or inequalities against which the back-band 9 is liable torub. The back-band can be very easily inserted in myimproved saddletree,and because there are no shoulders against which the band rubs and assaid band does not have to bend in passing over the skirt it will wearvery -much longer than when used in saddletrees as vcommonlyconstructed.

I propose to make the saddletree of aluminium or some similar metalwhich is strong, but

horse and also oftentimes causes sore backs.

By making' the saddletree of aluminium its Weight is reduced by severalpounds, much to the relief of the horse.

Various changes in the construction of the device'may be made withoutdeparting from the invention.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

l. A saddletree having side arms forming between them a space for theback-band, said arms being connected at their lower ends by a sunkenbridge on which the backband directly rests, and a seat for supportingthe skirt, said seat projecting beyond the bridge and being osettherefrom a distance substantially equal to the thickness of the skirt.

2. A saddletree having side arms forming between them a space for theback-band, said arms being connected at their lower ends by sunkenbridges on which the back-band rests, a seat 7 projecting from eachbridge and oset therefrom a distance substantially equal to thethickness of the skirt, and a jockey-tip detachably secured to each sidearm and occupying a position above the seat.

ln testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

GEO. J. THEOBALD.

Witnesses:

LoUIs C. SMITH, WILLIAM L. ELLIOTT.

